Japanese stocks decline about 1% cent Friday

Japanese stocks declined about 1% Friday morning on overnight losses on Wall Street and the yen’s rise, which hurt exporters. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 99.57 points, or 1.11%, to trade at 8,884.21 at the end of the morning session . The broader-based Topix index was down 7.56 points, or 1.02%, at 736.23. Major exporters fell as the yen rose against major currencies. A strong yen makes Japanese goods more expensive overseas and erodes repatriated earnings. Shares in Panasonic Corp dropped 2.73 %, Sony Corp declined 1.77 %, Canon Inc lost 1.61%, Honda Motor Co shed 1.93 % and Toyota Motor Corp was down 1.42 %. Sharp Corp plunged 9.25% after the company and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd of Taiwan, also known as Foxconn, on Thursday failed to reach agreement on revisions of their capital alliance. Japan’s industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1.2% in July from the previous month for the first decline in two months amid a global economic slump and the yen’s appreciation, the government said Friday. The decrease, which was below a predicted 1.7 % rise, according to the Nikkei business daily, followed a 0.4% increase in June. The government also said Japan’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.3% in July. The euro was quoted at 98.26-30 yen, down from 98.69-73 yen late Thursday, and at 1.2514-2518 dollars, up from 1.2510-2513 dollars.